How ‘bout them Cowboys?
Winners of two in a row, the Dallas Cowboys are eying their third straight win on Sunday when they host the Washington Commanders in their second straight divisional matchup.
The game will kickoff at Noon ET in Dallas and can be streamed on fuboTV, DirecTV Stream and NFL+. fuboTV and DirecTV Stream both offer free trials.
More from The AP:
QB Rush keeps winning as Cowboys wait for Prescott’s return
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones hyped a nonexistent quarterback controversy after Cooper Rush won filling in for the injured Dak Prescott last week.
Even though Rush did it again in the first NFC East game for the defending division champs, Jones had come back to his senses.
“He’s doing a great job and I know that he doesn’t have anybody that’s supporting him more than Dak,” Jones said on his radio show Tuesday morning after a 23-16 “Monday Night Football” victory at the New York Giants.
“Because when Dak does get back, if we have a chance to have a record that lets us be in the hunt and lets us be viable, considering the loss of time we had with Dak, then that’s what a quarterback is about. I think we got a good one in Cooper.”
By “good one,” Jones meant a backup. His tone was different last week after a victory over defending AFC champion Cincinnati, when Jones, with that mischievous smile, said he would welcome a QB controversy because that would mean the Cowboys were winning.
After coach Mike McCarthy, star running back Ezekiel Elliott and even Rush himself shot all that down, the undrafted sixth-year player went out and did it again.
Rush is the only quarterback since the 1970 merger to lead game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime of his first three career starts.
The first was a 20-16 victory at Minnesota last year when Prescott was sidelined by a calf strain. Rush knew it would be multiple starts this time after Prescott fractured his right thumb in a season-opening loss to Tampa Bay.
Now the question is how many more. Jones said Prescott will be “able to play within a week or two.”
Logic says two weeks, when the Cowboys (2-1) visit the defending Super Bowl champion Rams in Los Angeles. Dallas is home against Washington on Sunday.
“Want to keep winning,” Rush said after improving his career record to 3-0. “As long as I’m in there, let’s just keep winning. Playing smart, trusting each other, both sides of the ball, and we’ll be all right.”
WHAT’S WORKING
The running back tandem of Elliott and Tony Pollard looked as good as it ever has. Pollard broke the longest Dallas run of the season at 46 yards to set up a field goal in his fourth career 100-yard game (105). Elliott had a season-best 27-yarder and finished with 73 while scoring a tying touchdown in the third quarter.
WHAT NEEDS HELP
Penalties are still a problem. A holding call derailed a promising game-opening drive. Cornerback Jourdan Lewis made unnecessary contact with a receiver on an incompletion on third-and-14, and the Giants drove to a tying field goal. Cornerback Kelvin Joseph, filling in briefly for Trevon Diggs, grabbed a receiver’s facemask to negate a sack with the Cowboys trying to protect a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter.
STOCK UP
DE DeMarcus Lawrence tied a career high with three sacks, helping the Cowboys to an NFL-best 13 sacks through three games. Those were Lawrence’s first of the season, and it was his first multi-sack game since 2018.
STOCK DOWN
At halftime, WR CeeDee Lamb’s stock was way down after a drop when he was wide open on a deep throw and might have scored. But Dallas’ new No. 1 receiver rebounded in a big way in the fourth quarter. Lamb’s one-handed grab put the Cowboys in front for good after he kept that drive alive by hanging on despite a big hit right at the down marker on a fourth-and-4 catch.
INJURIES
WR Michael Gallup (knee surgery recovery) and TE Dalton Schultz (Week 2 knee injury) didn’t play against the Giants after both told coaches and the medical staff they didn’t feel right. Jones said both could probably play this week.
KEY NUMBER
1999 — The previous time an undrafted QB had a 3-0 career record with at least 750 yards passing.
That was Pro Football Hall of Famer Kurt Warner for the “Greatest Show on Turf” St. Louis Rams, who won the Super Bowl. Warner was MVP of the regular season and Super Bowl that season.
NEXT STEPS
If Prescott doesn’t play against the Commanders, he’ll miss an NFC East reunion with fellow 2016 draft pick Carson Wentz, who went No. 2 overall to Philadelphia while Dallas took Prescott in the fourth round.
After Prescott won NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, they figured to be division rivals for years.
But Wentz’s career with the Eagles went south, then he spent last season with Indianapolis before a season-ending loss to last-place Jacksonville kept the Colts out of the playoffs and soured that relationship.
Wentz, Commanders don’t think sky is falling after 1-2 start
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Carson Wentz is not channeling his inner Chicken Little after the Washington Commanders fell to 1-2 on the season.
“We’ve got to fix some things,” Wentz said. “I don’t think it’s anything major. I don’t think it’s anything like ‘Oh boy, the sky is falling.’”
In the aftermath of 24-8 home loss to Philadelphia and with another key NFC East game at Dallas coming up Sunday, coach Ron Rivera echoed those sentiments — while adding he’s not in the business of calling out players for the mistakes they know they’re making.
“The guys that need to play better got to play better,” Rivera said Monday. “There’s some things that we have to fix, and that’s the truth of the matter. We have to play better. When we’re in opportunities and situations to make something happen, we’ve got to do those things. We’ve looked at it, we’ve figured it out, we’ve addressed it. Now we’ve got to go out and do it.”
One of those things is keeping Wentz upright; the Eagles sacked him nine times. Some of that could be blamed on protection breakdowns, though Rivera agreed after watching game film that Wentz made a few mistakes by holding onto the ball too long.
Wentz acknowledged that after a poor showing in his first chance to face the team that drafted him.
“It’s not the O-line,” Wentz said. “I’ve got to be better. I have to get rid of the ball in a lot of those situations, find a check down and move on — different things like that.”
WHAT’S WORKING
Defensive tackles Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen continue to play well, and they succeeded in taking away a lot of opportunities for Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts to run the ball.
Philadelphia had to adjust to that, and coach Nick Sirianni singled out that area of the game specifically.
“Credit them, that’s a really good defensive line,” Sirianni said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for Payne and Allen and (pass rusher Montez) Sweat. Those are good football players.”
WHAT NEEDS HELP
Opponents’ big-yardage plays continue to be an issue. Rivera cited them as the reason for Washington’s 36-27 loss at Detroit in Week 2, and the Eagles succeeded on pass plays of 23, 38, 40, 44 and 45 yards.
Rivera sees progress in how those happened Sunday.
“This week we had guys that were there, and it was a matter of being able to get to the ball and make the play on it,” he said. “In Detroit, we weren’t in position down the field on a couple of those to make the play. But this one was tougher because we had guys that worked at it, that were there and unfortunately didn’t make the play.”
STOCK UP
Second-year cornerback Benjamin St-Juste held his own when pressed into starting duty by William Jackson’s back injury. St-Juste gave up some plays, but he also showed some potential for growth.
STOCK DOWN
Washington’s remade offensive line is not holding up well. Guards Trai Turner and Andrew Norwell and center Wes Schweitzer, filling in for injured starter Chase Roullier, struggled along with right tackle Sam Cosmi when the Eagles brought pressure.
INJURIES
Jackson’s status bears watching this week after the back injury crept up over the weekend and led to him getting scratched. Washington is also banged up along the defensive line, playing without Chase Young (ACL surgery recovery), Casey Toohill (concussion), Daniel Wise (ankle) and rookie Phidarian Mathis (knee)
Rookie running back Brian Robinson Jr., who is recovering from two gunshot wounds to his right leg, worked out on the field prior to the game Sunday. Robinson can be activated as soon as Week 5 when Washington hosts Tennessee, but that’s no guarantee.
“He’s headed in the right direction, but we don’t really know,” Rivera said. “We won’t know until we get to that point where we have that feel. The doctors are going to examine, the doctors are going to let us know.”
KEY NUMBER
0 — Points the Commanders have scored in the first half over the past two games.
NEXT STEPS
Avoiding a 1-3 start means winning at Dallas, a second consecutive opponent coming off a short week. FanDuel Sportsbook opened with the Cowboys as 3-point home favorites.
“This is a very important game, mostly because it’s the one we’re about to play and it’s the only one we’ll play this week, so we’ve got to focus on exactly that,” Rivera said. “We’ve got to focus on Dallas, focus on who they are.”
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